Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Matthew 14.13-14 NLT 'As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.' The background to this story is the gruesome murder of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galile...

Matthew 13.54-55 NLT Jesus returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son.” I suspect that we have all known the hurt of being put down by somebody, and it hurts. Even if it happened many years ago, I suspect that you can still re...

Matthew 13.52 NLT Then Jesus added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.” When I was nine or ten years old, one of the great delights of my life was to visit my grandmother’s house. She lived quite close to our home and I was allowed to go and see her whenever I liked. Her...

Matthew 13.45-46 NLT Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! In the ancient world pearls were prized as highly as gold. Although we might not think of pearls that way, even today the most valuable pearls can be worth millions of pounds. Their beauty has always attracted i...

Matthew 13.31-32 NLT Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” This is one of the most famous of Jesus’ parables and the point is clear. Often the Kingdom of Heaven expresses itself in sm...

Matthew 13.30 NLT ”Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.” In order to understand this parable we need to be clear about the kind of weeds that Jesus was referring to. They were called bearded darnel which, in the early stages of their growth, look exactly like wheat so...

Matthew 13.23 NLT Jesus said, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” The parable of the sower mixes realism with huge encouragement. It confronts us with the fact that when the word of God is spoken there is a wide range of reactions. Some people just do...

Matthew 13.20-21 NLT 'The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.' These days farmers sow seed with great precision and very little is wasted, but in Jesus’ time it was a much more haphazard pr...

Matthew 12.49-50 NLT Jesus pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” We know very little about Jesus’ family. On this occasion we hear that they had come to see him and wanted to speak with him. By this time it seems that Joseph was dead and so Mary came with Jesus’ brothers and...

Matthew 12.36-37 NLT Jesus said, “I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” Mother Teresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” How true! I am sure we can all think of kind words that have been said to us over the years. The words might have only...

Matthew 12.35 NLT Jesus said, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” Jesus’ teaching couldn’t be clearer. Our words and actions flow from what’s going on in our hearts. That means that we all need to focus our attention on our hearts to ensure that there is a constant supply of goodness to...

Matthew 12.31 NLT Jesus said, “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven.” Some years ago I went to visit a woman who was absolutely convinced that she had committed the unforgivable sin. She was devastated by this and in a state of great distress. Having listened to her carefully for a while it was clear to me tha...

Matthew 11.28-30 NLT Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you... For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” The yoke of the law was an expression that the rabbis often used. Just as two animals were firmly attached to one another by a wooden yoke, so too complying with all the requirements of t...

Matthew 11.25-26 NLT Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!” I seem to have spent my life being surrounded by children. When I was nine years old my mother gave birth to twin girls – much to her surprise!...

Matthew 10.38-39 NLT Jesus said, “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” These statements take us to the heart of Jesus’ ministry. Our society assumes that you find life by acquiring more and more things. But Jesus turns that thinking on its head and de...

Matthew 10.29-31 NLT Jesus said, “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” Jesus had just been spelling out what life was going to be like for his disciples. He made it clear tha...

Matthew 10.16 NLT Jesus said, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” When I lived in India I got used to snakes being a constant threat. Every few months we would hear about deaths caused by snakes in our area, and they understandably generated a good deal of fear. If you live in the presence of snakes you quickly come to respect their...

Matthew 10.8 NLT Jesus said, “Give as freely as you have received!” Everything we have ever received has been a gift. Look at your family, home, car, job, friends, education, talents, opportunities, even your latest breath – they are all a complete gift. We like to point to our hard work and effort and suggest that we have deserved many of the things that we have, but the truth is that even our ab...

Matthew 9.37-38 NLT Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” This is a fascinating statement from Jesus. He was seeing a huge reaction to his ministry with crowds of people responding to both his teaching and his healing. The harvest was clearly enormous, and so h...

Matthew 9.17 NLT Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.” Glass bottles did exist in Jesus’ day but it was usual for wine to be stored in skins. When new wine is stored, it is still fermenting and so it is essential that the skin ha...

Matthew 9.12 NLT Jesus said, ”For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Jesus’ ministry was a continual shock for the Pharisees. They were anxious to obey the Jewish law to the letter and this governed the whole of their lives. Tragically, many of them missed the whole point as they did so. They thought that they were right with God becau...

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth.“Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. There are moments in all our lives which act like hinges. In themselves they are  small but when we look back on life they are massive – they changed everything.  I think of the moment in Israel when I met a 1...

Matthew 9:2 Some people brought to him a paralysed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man,“Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” On the face of it, the needs of this man were absolutely clear. He was paralysed and needed Jesus to heal him. But Jesus started somewhere else. He knew that the man’s first need was for forgiveness. He then turned his attention to...

Matthew 8.33-34 NLT 'The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.' Jesus’ healing ministry triggered a complete range of reactions. Many people understandably responded with joy and relief, but here it was completely different. Jesus had just healed...

Matthew 8.26 NLT Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The Sea of Galilee is not large. It is about 13 miles from north to south and only about 8 miles at its widest point from east to west. Its location in the Jordan Rift Valley means that winds can quickly build up, and there are many a...